Finally updated!

I have finally faced the fact that I don’t have time to do the blog regularly. It will just have to be something I do whenever I can get a chance, like now…….instead of helping Fred weld the new stable roof thingies that he’s working on today. I’ve already done the bit of painting in the new shed that I wanted to get done so stuff it!

Fabi doing a great job as lead horse.

LOVE this photo! Bike training with Noah.

Last time I did the blog I was going on about the ‘failed by other trainers’ horses we had in for training at the time. Well I’m pleased to say that we successfully started and rehabilitated all of them! The saddest thing was that in Fred’s opinion not one of them would have even been a particularly challenging horse as a blank canvas. I think the fact that all were able to be re educated here shows that they had the temperament and willingness to respond to a good trainer that was very fair on them.

Everyone's dream horse...big, black and WB!

To go into more detail; Bobby, the chestnut horse I featured in the last blog went home about 10 days after that blog entry. His owner was fantastic and took on all Fred’s advice. Given she was about ready to put the horse to sleep as per the other trainers advice, she was just so happy to have her lovely horse back with his confidence restored and going so well. She bought a swinging fender saddle that we recommended and she and Fred worked out a bit of a training programme for Bobby so he would continue on as he left us. I’m pleased to say that I’ve spoken to Bobby’s owner since he left us and all is going to plan. He was a genuinely lovely boy with a huge heart, given what he had been through at the other trainers, and we absolutely loved having him here and being able to save him.

Bobby's owner having her first ride. Love the smile .

I didn’t go into detail about 2 of the other horses we had here at the time except to mention their shocking mouths and also the lack of any basic work that had been covered by the last trainer before declaring them as ‘no good and unrideable’. They were both what we would call fairly easy and again would have been straight forward horses to start as blank canvasses in our opinion. Both re educated beautifully, again the owners took on all Fred’s advice and we hear the horses attended Pony Club last week and were angels. That’s so good to hear and their owner has booked in another two of their very nice horses to come to us next year for starting.

Prenti Downs Nemo.

I mentioned a gorgeous horse called Scotty in my last blog as another horse that had been failed by a trainer and deemed as no good. I included some photos of him and mentioned what in our opinion had gone wrong with the other trainer and how Fred went about fixing it and gaining the horses confidence again. I also mentioned that after Fred did successfully start him and get his confidence back, we recommended to his owner that he go out for a spell for a few months before coming back to us to be finished off. Fred felt it was important for Scotty to have break, both physically and mentally given that he had been at the last trainer for 4 fairly stressful weeks then to us for 2 weeks to be rehabilitated. Fred basically wanted to relieve Scotty of his ‘bogeymen’ then let him have a break. His owner did exactly that and now Scotty is back with us. He’s actually been back with us for 2 weeks now and is ready to go home again. What a fantastic horse! The spell was perfect for him as he came back fat, relaxed and far happier and more confident. He’s a different horse under saddle now and is ready to start his new ridden career next week.

Scotty having a hoon.

We’ve had many horses come and go as always since the last blog. We’re meant to be winding down this week as we have the O’Leary clinic at Brookleigh next weekend over the Fri, Sat and Sun, yet somehow we have fuller yards then ever out there!! We will have a few horses going home during the week though so might get one or two light days around the clinic….as in light days to work on fencing or yards or painting. It never ends! Oh, and there’s hay season too. Marilyn and Kat will be looking after the horses while we’re away and we’ll be back here at night. It should be an interesting clinic as always and I know we’ll be seeing lots of familiar faces there as so many of our clients will be coming along to watch.

Spiders owner having her first ride on him.

Lovely Lana back for a refresher.

We’ve had some lovely horses come and go and I so love when clients take the time to update on how they’re going once they leave. I try and keep in touch with as many people as I can but with the 1000’s of clients we have it can be hard. Fred’s currently working on 8 horses here now but 4 are ready to go home as I said. I’m trying to think if any have been particularly interesting lately…….

Glamour breaker .

We have a very beautiful Arab filly here at the moment that’s been quite interesting, and her owner will know who I’m talking about. She’s been a real challenge for Fred, mainly because she’s one of the first horses he’s ever worked with that he just couldn’t make happy initially. I know that sounds weird but we always find that if you’re fair and kind to horses, give them good firm leadership and boundaries, lots of variety in their work and lots of good food, generally they will enjoy their life and be a happy animal.

This little miss is a super dominant girl and since being under saddle, has basically argued with Fred about absolutely everything. Fred is quite well known for his ability to work with the more complicated horses, particularly mares, but this girl really did have him stumped for a few days last week. She responded well with her ground work but once she was under saddle she just didn’t want to do the work. She would strike and swish her tail, argue with him about gait, direction, what she was going to shy at and so on and so on…….Fred has always said that with stallions and dominant mares you almost have to let them think that it’s their idea to work and if you fight with them they will put more effort into fighting back then just doing what they’re being asked to do. He had to work out a way to improve this filly’s work ethic without compromising her training or allowing her to become evasive and disrespectful.

To cut a long story short, he lowered his expectations of her for one ride while still making sure she behaved and did as she was asked…….and it worked! It’s early days but just letting her think things were more ‘her way’ has really improved her attitude and willingness in general. That may not make total sense but is an example of how often you have think outside the box with horses to achieve good results.

Fred on Shakila, a breaker.

We also have what I believe to be another failed breaker here at the moment. I can’t go into detail as this horse belongs to a ‘name’ but this horse basically tried to kill Fred every which way she could for the first week she here was here which wasn’t much fun at all. Fred persisted and has finally got the horse working well and with a much nicer attitude. He still feels that the horse will be a challenge but the owner is very capable so it should be ok.

Fred sometimes talks about horses becoming ‘The Terminator’ due to bad and dangerous behaviour being allowed to escalate out of control and this horse fits that bill perfectly as she was quite dangerous. At least Fred was able to turn her around without either of them being injured. In situations like this you need to make the call when things become too dangerous and Fred was nearly there with this one which doesn’t often happen around here if ever. I’m glad he persisted but I always worry about injuries.

Not much other news actually. I have my lovely horse Kenny on the market as some people may have seen. He’s actually sold now subject to a vet check next week and has gone to a lovely BEATS squad member who really ‘gets’ him. It was a sad decision but my ‘riding big warmblood’ days are well and truly over (if they ever existed) and he is such a talented horse, it’s great to see him go to a worthy home.

Just to give a heads up, Fred and I have been getting requests to do clinics for a few years now so we’ve decided to start next year. We’re planning on beginning with the first one in late January and will be looking at maybe combining with Robyn Cottman from Riding Straight for the Perth ones. Fred will assess and improve the horse on the first day then Robyn can assess and improve the rider on the second day and the two of them advise from there as to future training plan. Where there isn’t a rider issue, Fred will work with the horse and owner on both days. We’ve had a lot of interest, particularly from our more remote country clients who have to travel so far and we’re looking forward to getting started with them